Defused
by Bad Idea Man
Summary: What happens when Golden Hearts stop beating? The clock keeps ticking in an AU where Bites The Dust has snuffed out what seemed to be the last hope for a town corrupted by evil. Kira must be found and the Heroes of Morioh avenged, but when the invincible die, who comes to the towns rescue? The answer: Everybody Else.


"Did you just say... Yoshikage Kira...?"

Josuke's emotions were a whirlwind, he was just hustling to go and meet with the others on time to question Hayato Kawajiri. He was nearly there, however he had heard a strange man standing on the sidewalk suddenly announce his name was Yoshikage Kira. Kira, the name that had eluded him and his friends, the greatest danger to the city of Morioh. Upon hearing the sudden exclamation, the man began to turn, as if to flee.

"DO-RA!" Crazy Diamond leapt forth out of Josuke, delivering a punch that knocked the supposed Kira off his feet. Kira gave a stern, almost unfazed glare back. The only thing that kept him from rushing forward and ending it all here was the minor off-chance that he had misheard.

"Josuke! Looks like we're gonna be on time to meet with Jo-" Okuyasu gave a short gasp. "Josuke, what's going on?" The thuggish boy was confused, it wasn't normal for Josuke to just attack people. "Okuyasu wait! This guy just said he was Yoshikage Kira!" Josuke fixed his attention to the man on the ground. "You, you better explain why you were saying Yoshikage Kira. If this is all just a misunderstanding, I'll help you up and fix you. But if not..."

"This...can't be happening to me..." Kira whispered out. This was impossible, terrible, how could something so foul and cruel happen to one who just wanted to live a peaceful life? How could Hayato have known that Josuke and Okuyasu were late, and-

Then Kira had a thought. A brilliant thought. A revelation so grand and delightful that he couldn't help but chuckle, until he also couldn't help but laugh, until he also couldn't help but just sit there and cackle loudly. Josuke and Okuyasu were beyond confused, but decided that this had to be their man, and that he was finally, _finally_ going to get his due justice. Suddenly Josuke felt a tugging on his pant leg, he looked down to spot what must've been Hayato Kawajiri furiously tugging at Josuke's ankles. "C'mon! You gotta fight him! You only have about thirty seconds left! Get him!"

Kira, ever methodical and cautious, instantly calculated the time it would take for someone with Josuke's build to run over to him. He took into account stand range as well as Kira's own physical endurance, running odds on how long he could possibly last against Josuke's heavy barrages.

"Higashikata! There you are!" A hand slapped itself down on Josuke's shoulder, much to the shock of everybody involved. "We've been getting weird reports about you from all over town, and now here you are assaulting people! You'd think someone with such a respectable officer for a grandfather would know how to obey the law! C'mon, lets head to the station, and your friend with the scars comes too." Josuke looked back quickly and saw a police officer of light build and felt vague feelings of knowing who this was, but there wasn't time for that. According to Hayato he only had a few moments to take Kira down or else... something. Josuke pushed the officer aside, seeing that Kira had already started making a mad dash down the alleyway. "I got this Josuke! Get him!" Yelled Okuyasu, tackling the officer to cover Josuke's pursuit. Kira made a sharp left into a crossing alleyway, his heart pounding as he counted the seconds down. Josuke was younger, and much faster than Kira, and quickly made the same left.

The left that Josuke had taken however, was right into Kira's oncoming fist. Josuke tumbled to the ground, stunned by this cheap trick. Josuke stumbled to his feet, he needed to take Kira down, when else would he get this opportunity? "DO-RA-RA-RA-RA-RA-RA-RA!" The fists flew, Josuke felt each blow connect, finally, this was it. It was all over. So many different twists and turns to arrive to this. It had to be over now.

"Zero" Kira coughed out. Crazy Diamonds fists were still flying, but suddenly the hits stopped connecting, Josuke's eyes widened. "No... what did you do?! What is this?! _This isn't over!_ _I swear_ _I'll kill you Kira! Justice must be se-"_

Then there was a click.

Josuke found himself in the air, he quickly glanced down to see a place that seemed familiar, and someone down below screaming out at him. What was this? Where was Kira? Was this the event Hayato was panicking about? Confused, he scratched at his head, only to feel nothing. He tried again, nothing, and again to the same result. Quickly he looked at his arms, and they were crumbling as if they were constructed from ash. Josuke began to panic, the cracking and crumbling slowly reached closer to his head. His eyes fixed themselves to the figure below, and the last feeling Josuke Higashikata had was that of grim shock at what he saw:

It was Reimi.

She was crying.

Kira began collecting himself as he heard the officer running around the corner. The officer frantically looked around for a moment before blurting out "Where's Higashikata! I'll knock that punks hair a few decades back!" Kira smiled calmly and tried not to burst into manic laughter. Hayato stumbled foward and rounded the corner, terrified at the sight of nothing. Kira took a deep breath and politely commented "Oh, officer. Don't worry about him, he was just trying to mug me and ran off when he heard you. The situation has been... _defused._ "


End file.
